Government is urged to commit resources to involve patients in NHS decisions

Calls for greater influence of patients on the NHS are “just rhetoric” without concrete government plans to find, screen, and fund a new cadre of patient leaders, a conference has heard.

Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, said that it shouldn’t be left to charities alone to “fill the void” in training patients for such roles.

She said that the Francis inquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust had not done enough to encourage patients to become leaders and that the government should start looking for them through a dedicated online “recruitment gateway.”